


Reprise

by jargoc



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Naruto Chapter 699, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-25
Updated: 2016-11-25
Packaged: 2018-09-02 05:11:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8652250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jargoc/pseuds/jargoc
Summary: but what if they kissed instead?





	

**Author's Note:**

> I had a lot of fun writing this!
> 
> One of my closest friends drew a panel redraw alternate outcome sort of deal and when I saw it I wanted to write it so bad... so I dove back into sasunaru hell and did it.
> 
> Sasuke and Naruto are so important to me and I've been so nervous to write them for ever because they're just my absolute favorites and I'm afraid I won't do them justice, but... I actually think this turned out the way I wanted it to! 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Every inch of him ached. It had come to this: punches and kicks with their fading energy. They might have just saved the world but this was who they were. Sasuke and Naruto. It didn’t matter that they had saved the world, they still had business with one another that had to be dealt with.

They knelt in the dirt, one punch, one kick, desperation and that familiar feeling of frustration that burned hot in the back of his throat and tasted of blood. Naruto knew this would be their last fight. 

They weren’t children anymore, they were the best of the best and they’d proven that, not only to the world, but to themselves. Working together Naruto and Sasuke had saved the world. Together they were the strongest. Call it destiny or fate or both but this is where they were meant to be: together. So why couldn’t Sasuke see that? Why did he always come back to this? People called Naruto self sacrificing but it was Sasuke who was willing to kill every part of himself for the sake of justice, for the sake of the world... Stubborn bastard.

A punch to the face sent pain and bursts of white light into Naruto’s vision but he held his ground. He wouldn’t let this happen, he wouldn’t let Sasuke become the villain of this story. They were heroes,  _ he _ was a hero.  

He would fight Sasuke, he would make him listen this time. 

The sound of water flowing and crashing around him brought back old memories. Old words thrown at one another, Sasuke trying to hurt him, failing to kill him--no not failing,  _ choosing _ not to kill him. Sasuke had had his chance many times: in the cave with his blade pointed to his heart, in the water where Naruto failed to stop him for the first time… he had let Naruto live then and now here they were, fighting for the last time on the same ground, but it was all different.

They were different, they were older, and stronger, and Naruto understood him like he hadn’t before. Every punch told Naruto that this was Sasuke’s last effort. The fight had pushed him to the edge, hope for a better future had risen in him and the only way to cut it out was to kill Naruto. 

_ “This isn’t like before… I understand what you’re doing,” _ Sasuke had said to him earlier.

Naruto had wanted to scream,  _ “Then why won’t you stop this!” _ He had wanted to grab Sasuke by the shoulders and shake the words out of him. Sasuke had insisted they needed to fight this out, and while Naruto didn’t like it, he knew this was just the way it had to be for Sasuke. He’d never been very good with words, at least not with the ones he really wanted to say, and Naruto knew that the best way to understand him was like this. In a fight Sasuke couldn’t lie to him.

But he wouldn’t let this fight end in his death. If Naruto was Sasuke’s last hope, he’d never let himself be killed.

Every time Naruto opened his mouth to get a word in Sasuke stopped him. He was avoiding it, but Naruto wasn’t in the business of giving up. With every ache of his muscles and scream of his joints Naruto reminded himself who he was fighting for. Everyone back in Konoha was counting on him, and Sasuke needed him most of all. He would never give up if it meant saving them all. That was his ninja way.

A puff of shadow clones surrounded Sasuke and did their job of keeping Sasuke occupied while he ran up and delivered an uppercut that sent fire down from his raw knuckles into his shoulder blades. Sasuke swung his elbow around and caught him in the jaw so hard Naruto was seeing stars. A rasengan formed in his hand as he tried to blink them away and refocus, but the jutsu flickered out and Naruto tripped.  _ Fuck _ , Naruto thought before Sasuke’s foot was slamming against his chest. The air left his lungs with a loud wheeze and Naruto’s back hit the ground. He felt Sasuke’s knees press against his sides and knew the fist was coming but he wasn’t fast enough to grit his teeth. His mouth exploded with the taste of iron and blood sprayed onto the white of Sasuke’s shirt.

But it was Sasuke who screamed.

The sound cut deep into his chest. It hurt him. It hurt him so much to know how much Sasuke hurt himself. Every time he thought of the horrors Sasuke had faced his chest ached, and when he thought of how Sasuke had faced them all alone the hole in his chest only doubled in size. Maybe he was selfish after all… he wanted Sasuke to stop hurting so he could stop too. When they were younger, Naruto had looked at Sasuke and seen everything he ever wanted. He had seen a rival; a friend. The sight of him riled something in him and made him feel alive… now he couldn’t remember the last time looking at Sasuke made him feel anything but raw and hollowed out. 

He was hurting so much… and Naruto felt helpless. 

He looked up at Sasuke from the dirt, his vision was blurred with tears and his eye was almost swollen shut but he could still see him. He was still the boy that Naruto looked up to, his rival, his brother, his friend, his… everything. He could see the pain in Sasuke’s eyes, the cry for help that was buried so deep that Sasuke didn’t let himself hear it but Naruto could hear it loud and clear. Under all of this hurt and loneliness, Sasuke was still the boy who had shared his bento with him. He was still the boy who had died for him, the one who had called him a comrade.  _ His _ Sasuke was still there.

Sasuke had never felt so close. Naruto could feel the scales tipping. Sasuke’s movements had never been this desperate, it was as if he knew that this time it would end differently. Hope surged through Naruto’s veins. This time would be different. For the first time in years Naruto felt like he could just reach out and pull Sasuke back to him. 

_ Come back to me. _

Naruto’s hand shot out between them as Sasuke cocked back his fist for another punch and snatched his collar. He didn’t know what he was doing, but he didn’t need to. His body always knew what it needed to do. A surprised grunt popped from Sasuke’s lips, but Naruto didn’t give him a moment to react. 

He pulled himself up with a white knuckled grip on Sasuke’s collar and pushed their lips together hard. Sasuke tensed against him but his readied fist fell limp to his side. Then the scales finally tipped and Naruto’s world flipped on its head. Sasuke kissed him back. Years and years of frustration and love and want and hurt cracked open between them and flowed into the mash of teeth and desperate gasps. Naruto pushed forward until his arms were basically trapped between the press of their bodies, and kept pushing until Sasuke was the one on his back. The world melted away around them, there was no sound other than Sasuke’s breath, there was no pain, there was only Sasuke. There was only this.

Sasuke’s hands twitched over his sides; Naruto could feel them hovering. He swept his tongue over Sasuke’s lower lip, a challenge, and Sasuke’s hands finally touched him. The touch wasn’t gentle — Sasuke’s fingernails bit into his skin hard enough to leave a mark through the mesh of his shirt — but he didn’t push Naruto away. He made a soft, almost pleased noise when Naruto’s hips rolled forward, his knee now pushing between the spread of Sasuke’s thighs. He had no idea what would come from this, or what it might solve, but Naruto wanted to hold Sasuke like this forever. He wanted Sasuke to let him hold him.

“Why?” Sasuke demanded against Naruto’s lips. The question sounded raw and like it had been painful to ask, the hole in his chest singed at the edges. “ _ Why? _ ” He asked again, his voice sharper this time when Naruto looked too shocked to answer.

“Why what?” Naruto answered back, one arm now propping him up while the other hand gently cupped Sasuke’s jaw. “Why did I kiss you?” Naruto laughed lightly, “And you call  _ me _ the idiot.”

Something in Sasuke’s eyes sharpened, on the defense again. “Why don’t you give up?” The words sounded tired and tight with a vulnerability that made a knot in Naruto’s chest. “I’ve said unforgivable things, and pushed you away every chance I got. I almost killed you. I left you to die. I tried so hard,” the corners of Sasuke’s lips pulled into a small disbelieving smirk. The sight had Naruto’s heart racing. “I tried so  _ fucking _ hard to cut my ties with you, but you won’t let me go.” Sasuke looked up at Naruto and the look in his eyes, searching, desperate, hopeful, made Naruto want to lean down and kiss him again. Sasuke reached up and grabbed a fistfull of Naruto’s collar this time. He grit his teeth and pulled Naruto down just inches from his face. At that distance Naruto could see tears welling up behind his long, stupid, beautiful Uchiha lashes. “So why?” Sasuke practically yelled, “Why do you care so much about me?!”

Naruto couldn’t help it; he smiled, “Don’t you already know?” Sasuke’s grip tightened. Naruto snorted. “Pinned under me is the only way to get you to talk, eh?”

Sasuke growled, “Shut up and just answer me.”

Naruto ran his thumb gently against the elegant edge of Sasuke’s jaw and smiled as fondly as his body would allow, “Because I love you, you idiot.”

Sasuke’s grip slackened and his eyes blinked wide and they looked startled for a moment before he composed them back into the cold sharp eyes Naruto was used to. He let go of Naruto and Naruto started to feel him slip away again. “You don’t even know what you’re saying,  _ dobe _ . You should stick to your usual script and blabber about friendship.”

Naruto grit his teeth. Sasuke gave him whiplash sometimes. He leaned closer to Sasuke’s face again. He leaned close enough that he could feel Sasuke’s ragged breath over his lips, but his eyes never broke Sasuke’s gaze. His voice was low and serious when he spoke again, “I know exactly what I’m saying. I love you, dumbass. In every way a person can love someone, I love you.” Naruto was realizing just how true his words were as he spoke them, “We’re different than all of the people who came before us because we love each other. When you hurt,  _ I  _ hurt, and I bet it’s the same for you. You love me too, Sasuke, I know you do.” Naruto swallowed, the words hanging between them like a prayer.

Sasuke had never looked more taken aback in his life. If Naruto’s heart hadn’t been about to beat out of his chest he would probably have made fun of the way his lips parted in surprise, or how a tear had slipped out of the corner of his eye and rolled down his cheeks onto Naruto’s knuckles. Sasuke turned his head away and panic started to bubble up in Naruto’s throat, accompanied by a cold rush of doubt that numbed him to his fingertips. 

“Me too,” Sasuke said, his voice gravelly and thick with the threat of more tears. “When you used to hurt… I felt it too.” Naruto’s heart practically tripped over itself. He choked on the first syllable of Sasuke’s name and Sasuke’s eyes snapped back to his. This time his gaze was soft, and the smile on his lips was warmer than Naruto had seen in a long long time. “I lost…”

Naruto laughed, rolling his eyes and flicking Sasuke hard on the forehead, “Idiot!” he dragged out the vowels obnoxiously, “This isn’t about winning or losing! My dream is for all of the shinobi to work together. I need  _ you _ to do that,” He could feel how wide his grin was, his wounds stung but he couldn’t stop smiling, “You and I could protect the village,  _ together _ ! We’re strongest when we’re together, Sasuke, we could protect everyone. We could make it so nothing like what happened to you ever happens again… I need you.”

“What if I turn on you?” Sasuke asked, though Naruto could hear the small smug tone behind it.

“You won’t,” Naruto said, equally if not more smug. He tilted his nose toward the sky.

“How do you know?”

Naruto looked back down at Sasuke and grinned, “Because you  _ love _ me,” Naruto teased, sticking his tongue out at him.

Before Naruto realized it, his back was hitting the ground again and Sasuke had both arms pinned above his head. Heat thrummed down his spine, and pleasure curled in his chest when Sasuke leaned into his space. If Naruto didn’t know any better he would have thought that Sasuke was blushing. Sasuke rolled his eyes, “Shut up, stupid,” he said, his voice completely and utterly fond. Then he bent down and stole Naruto’s reply right from his lips with a kiss that set Naruto’s world right back where it was supposed to be. Sasuke had finally come home.


End file.
